Max is 9 months old and wants to chew particularly first thing in the morning and for up to an hour in the evenings. The only things that are standing up to his chewing are antler chews and his safe stix. All his other toys were being destroyed and have been hidden so we can play with them at the times of day when he isn't so chewy! Anyone else's pup like this? Does it ease off or stop at some point? He also has a thing about chewing large stones which means we have to be careful on walks and he is restricted to the our patio area of the garden as there is a large rockery next to the lawn. I have thought about getting him a bone but don't know where to start in terms of what bone to get.
Re: If your puppy was a chewer, when did they stop? Did they stop?!! Tuppence is now 19 months and still more chewy than Wispa (now 3) was. We've been lucky in that she has only destroyed toys rather than the house! I used nylabones for several months, but then found the pet store didn't stock them any more (possibly because they might cause damage to teeth?). She used to chew them until they were at least only half the original size! Like you, I've been restricting her play with other toys to 'under supervision' only - and yes, it's morning and early evening that tend to be the 'mad' times! Fortunately she doesn't take the stones in the garden, but she finds pieces of wood, bits of branches and plastic flowerpots to destroy - or prrhaps she's just trying to tidy up! It's probably time to test Tuppence again with the softer toys, but i'm not sure she's ready yet, though hope that moment will come.
Re: If your puppy was a chewer, when did they stop? Did they stop?!! Molly is 19 months old and finally stopped chewing furniture a couple of months ago. However she will still shred soft toys and rubber dog toys so she only has them when playing with me. Many people on here do not give their dogs rawhide, but I find its fine for Molly. It doesn't upset her tum and she spends ages chewing a rawhide bone. I buy those very big knotted bones (4.99 from Pets at Home) and one lasts a week. Again many would disagree, but I give Molly the occasional pet shop bone and they're fine for her.She has a whole 'bone collection' which get selected and gnawed now and then, not to mention buried and dug up again! My last Lab couldn't tolerate either rawhide or bones, but was fine with rubber toys, so I think it's what suits an individual dog.
Re: If your puppy was a chewer, when did they stop? Did they stop?!! Holly is an angel in disguise. The total of her chewing was the crossbars on two kitchen stools. Her predecessor, Cocoa, was a chewmonster. As a puppy she ate everything within range. Her most impressive achievments were two walking boots (not a pair but on from each set) and the kitchen lino. She eventually settled down at about a year old and confined her chewing to her toys. She had a lifetime mission to rid the world of squeaky toys, and spent her 12 years 4 months trying to fulfill this ambition.
Re: If your puppy was a chewer, when did they stop? Did they stop?!! Puppy chewing is about teething, so they stop once their big back teeth are settled in their jaws, Gypsy (10 months) has just about stopped her puppy chewing. But there are plenty of other reasons for chewing. If they are bored or anxious they chew, they also chew just for the pleasure of it - which is good as we can make sure they clean their teeth that way. I cure unwanted chewing by putting bitter apple spray etc on the things I don't want chewing - it works even in the garden! Gypsy is a terrible 'gardener' and I suddenly thought to try it in the garden, it works. Then there is the kind of chewing which is hard to stop as it happens when we are not there - chewed toys etc. The only way to prevent this kind of chewing is to keep all tempting items out of the way and smear the skirting boards etc with chew preventer.
Re: If your puppy was a chewer, when did they stop? Did they stop?!! I didn't have a destructive chewer but I did /do have a very determined chewer in that Dexter will crunch down hard when he was/is chewing...he was a nightmare for picking up stones when he was younger.He didn't actually crunch down on them though ,he seemed to like the 'clack' sensation on his teeth so we started giving him ice cubes to satisfy that ...We also gave him loads of cardboard,sometimes even now I catch myself putting a cardboard container in the drawer ;D I used to put a few pieces of kibble in and scrunch it up or even tape up a bigger box and he'd have a great time.He isn't a big chewer now at 2.5 but he does have nylabones lying around the house when we are there but he tends to bring them to us to play with him rather than chew....sometimes he will get settled in for a good gnaw though and I take it off him as I fear for him breaking a tooth.On those occasions I replace it with a frozen stuffed kong,that is the only thing I will leave him to chew on to his hearts delight.He's never had a bone ,I'm too scared.If Max is a really determined chewer just be careful with the antlers in case he breaks a tooth....I remember reading on here that anything that you can't make an impression on with your thumb nail could be dangerous for their teeth....but common sense prevails,some Forum Folk use things very successfully that Dexter could hurt himself on x
Re: If your puppy was a chewer, when did they stop? Did they stop?!! I've been lucky with Juno in that she's not a chewer but loves her chewy toys which range from Kongs, Kong Stix, Kong Tugger Knots, Knotted ropes and a couple of other rubber Kong toys which squeak. (She particularly likes squeaky toys ;D She has a nylabone which is given to he when she is left alone, normally for around an hour while out shopping. I've recently tried her with some bones from the pet aisle in the garden centre and one from the supermarket (a Friskies bone if I remember correctly) and today she had her first Safebone which lasted about 15 minutes.
Re: If your puppy was a chewer, when did they stop? Did they stop?!! Cooper (13 months) is also a chewer.....he has chewed the legs on chairs and table in the family room (breakfast nook), the sofa that he now sleeps on, legs on the little TV tables.....I dont give him the run of the house unless I am with him every second...so he is confined to one large room. I also wonder how long does this last! His adult teeth must all be in by now? He has all kinds of Nylabones, Kong toys (no rope because he chews and swallows), no plastic because he destroys and swallows. Now that Spring seems to have arrived to the Northeast of USA (thank goodness) and plants are beginning to show up.....he is chewing/eating the young leaves that are sprouting! So I can see he will be a challenge for the garden! He goes to day care every day for 8 hours so plays all day long....comes home tuckered out.....but still can destroy a toy in seconds! Can' t imagine him being bored.....maybe it's just part of their DNA???? We all seem to have the same problem...some more than others....good luck to us all and to our furniture!!! Have a great day!
Re: If your puppy was a chewer, when did they stop? Did they stop?!! Thank you for all your replies. I think I'm worrying because he will swallow small bits of plastic, antlers etc if given a chance. He's never left alone so my furniture is safe (although he's never shown any desire to chew on anything other than toys, stones and sticks!). This really destructive chewing has only started in the last few weeks, up until then most of his puppy toys had survived. He has always chewed things, but was more gentle. He can't even be left alone with a kong as he managed to chew through part of a kong extreme goodie bone last week! Hopefully it's just his adult teeth settling in and it will stop quite soon [hopeful]
Re: If your puppy was a chewer, when did they stop? Did they stop?!! [quote author=Tomal link=topic=10573.msg156735#msg156735 date=1429105616] he managed to chew through part of a kong extreme goodie bone last week! [/quote] Dexter sends a paw pump and says 'respect' ;D that's some chew down! [quote author=Tomal link=topic=10573.msg156735#msg156735 date=1429105616] Thank you for all your re I think I'm worrying because he will swallow small bits of plastic, antlers etc if given a chance. [/quote] To be honest Dexter has gnawed away at plastic over time with his nylabones and every morning he gets little bits off one toothbrush while I scrub away with another ( JulieT and I'm sure a few other members will throw their hands up in horror at my acceptance of the ingestion of plastic : ) so that wouldn't be my biggest worry...it would still be how hard antlers are when you've got a really professional chewer ....I fear for broken teeth,they are painful,distressing .....and expensive :-\
Re: If your puppy was a chewer, when did they stop? Did they stop?!! Charlie is an Olympic chewer. He was a nightmare as a puppy and I would leave him in a metal pen that lined a room (so skirting boards, door frames, radiators etc were all outside the pen) with a tiled floor. My OH joked that one day we'd find that he'd manage to reach the light fitting in order to have something to chew... He grew out of chewing stuff he shouldn't, or at least we managed to train him enough not to chew stuff he shouldn't, but at two he still has a huge desire to chew, and I'm pretty much constantly on the look out for safe things to give to him. I've recently started experimenting with raw food, duck and chicken necks, to see whether giving him raw food with bones would help. I'm not sure it will because he just crunches them up so very quickly. (I might move to raw feeding anyway though). He doesn't get antlers, nylabones or anything like that. We stick pretty strictly to the thumbnail test - so kongs, some (not much) rawhide, beef pizzles and treat balls. I am obsessive about checking his teeth and having the vet check his teeth, I'm so convinced that one day he'll break one on something. This is really important if you have a dog that will attempt to chew down with a lot of force on very hard things - it's a real risk to teeth and just not worth taking that risk. Other dogs are more sensible and think "oh, that's very hard, I won't attempt to crunch it". Not Charlie though, he'll try to defeat anything and everything. Strangely, not really soft things though - he doesn't chew beds or bedding for example. [quote author=Dexter link=topic=10573.msg156744#msg156744 date=1429109951] JulieT and I'm sure a few other members will throw their hands up in horror at my acceptance of the ingestion of plastic : ) [/quote] Do I have a reputation for throwing hands up in horror or something? ;D ;D ;D
Re: If your puppy was a chewer, when did they stop? Did they stop?!! I do constantly worry about him breaking a tooth Julie. I feel like I'm running out of options. He only has the split antlers that have the marrow exposed but he managed to bite off and ingest about an inch of one morning before I realised that he wasn't just chewing. I've tried pizzles but he will chew them for 5-10 minutes and then swallow them whole! I might try not having anything available to chew tomorrow morning and see what he does instead. It's only the period 6.30-7am when I'm still try to wake up properly . He used to just cwtch with me on the sofa, now all he wants to do is chew!
